Insulated handle on the cutters. Not perfect but good enough for thieves.
That’s a fair amount of work for not a lot of copper.
Good question.
Babylon......er, nope....................
Oakland is becoming like South Africa.
“Why are South Africans Stealing Traffic Lights?”
by SerpentZA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liqvp6FWfXI&ab_channel=serpentza
“How do these homeless people steal the copper wires on a live traffic light and not get electrocuted?”
I read that the lights are 120v. Won’t hurt unless you are grounded.
Decriminalizing crime has consequences.
The little town near me in Washington County,PA. is also getting rid of some street lights to be replaced with stop signs. It is an old Steel mill town that has seen its glory days. Penndot is doing the survey and replacing.
The term for “homeless” used to be “vagrant”. Vagrancy used to be a crime.
What is the current price to recycle copper is???
The dealers who buy this “scrap” copper are not without blame, either. People don’t just find lots of copper from traffic lights and air conditioners lying around in the streets, at least nowhere that I’ve ever seen.
If the traffic lights in Oakland are anything like the ones in San Diego and LA Counties, they might as well all be Stop Signs anyway because you GET STOPPED AT EVERY SINGLE LIGHT ANYWAY.
None of the lights are timed to let traffic flow. You sit at a light, then it turns green and you see the next one go yellow, then red. Every. Single. Light.
If it is the middle of the night and there’s no traffic, you won’t get a green until another cross traffic car comes that can be stopped to let you go.
They also have a habit of putting in traffic lights as close as 150 feet of each other. END RANT.
These Leftist city planners are supposed to be the smartest people in any room, but the concept of having laws against vandalism and theft (and enforcing them) evades them.
Instead, the answer is to remove the thing being vandalized and stolen and make law-abiding citizens suffer.
Astonishing.
It’s only 8 lanes people! Look far to the right!